Johnston Publishing (NI) is a large newspaper group in Northern Ireland consisting of Mortons Newspapers and the News Letter, and is a holding company of JPIMedia. The company was formed following Johnston Press's purchase of Century Newspapers (publishers of the daily newspaper, the News Letter ) from Trinity Mirror, and Scottish Radio Holdings' 45 weekly newspapers (Score Press) following their take over by EMAP.
The company is one of the two main holding companies for JPIMedia on the island of Ireland, the other one being Derry Journal Newspapers in the northwest. Johnston Publishing (NI) has its headquarters in Portadown, County Armagh.
Morton Newspapers was set up by John Morton in 1936, when he purchased the Lurgan Mail title. It slowly expanded over the next eight decades purchasing the Portadown Times in 1949, the Londonderry Sentinel in 1953 and the Ballymena Times in 1986 amongst others. It also launched several newspapers including the Ulster Star in 1957 and FarmWeek in 1959. [1]
In December 1995, the sale of the company by the Morton family to Scottish Radio Holding's was completed for £11.2m, and became part of Score Press. [2]
Ten years later in 2005, Scottish Radio Holding's 45 titles (sixteen in Scotland, twenty-four in Northern Ireland and five in the Republic of Ireland), including Morton Newspapers, were bought by Johnston Press for £155m [3] and became known as Johnston Publishing (NI). Mortons Newspapers is now a subsidiary of Johnston Publishing (NI), and is used to differentiate between the local newspapers (Mortons) and the daily title, the News Letter. The Republic of Ireland titles were sold to Iconic Newspapers.
The Craigavon Echo has been pulled, as it stopped printing from the first week of June 2010. [ clarification needed ]
Century Press and Publishing's main title was the News Letter a leading daily in Northern Ireland. In 1996, what became Trinity Mirror bought a 90% stake in the company for £15m and in 2004 it sold the company along with the Derry Journal Group to the 3i holding company Local Press Ltd for £46.3m. [4]
Local Press was then purchased by Johnston Press a year later in November 2005 for a reported £65m. [5]
After the purchase of Local Press Ltd, the Century was reorganised with the News Letter becoming part of Johnston Publishing (NI) and the rest held by a holding company called Derry Journal Newspapers.
NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) ; and for a brief period Ulster Transport Railways (UTR), is the railway operator in Northern Ireland. NIR is a subsidiary of Translink, whose parent company is the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), and is one of seven publicly-owned train operators in the United Kingdom, the others being Direct Rail Services, Northern Trains, Transport for Wales Rail, Southeastern, LNER, and ScotRail. It has a common Board of Management with the other two companies in the group, Ulsterbus and Metro.
Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about 18 miles (29 km) south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population of about 25,000 at the 2011 Census and is within the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon district. For some purposes, Lurgan is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area" along with neighbouring Craigavon and Portadown.
Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about 24 mi (39 km) southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of about 22,000 at the 2011 Census. For some purposes, Portadown is treated as part of the "Craigavon Urban Area", alongside Craigavon and Lurgan.
Craigavon is a town in northern County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Its construction began in 1965 and it was named after the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland: James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was intended to be the heart of a new linear city incorporating Lurgan and Portadown, but this plan was mostly abandoned and later described as having been flawed. Among local people today, "Craigavon" refers to the area between the two towns. It is built beside a pair of artificial lakes and is made up of a large residential area (Brownlow), a second smaller one (Mandeville), plus a central area (Highfield) that includes a substantial shopping centre, a courthouse and the district council headquarters. The area around the lakes is a public park and wildlife haven made up of woodland with walking trails. There is also a watersports centre, golf course and ski slope in the area. In most of Craigavon, motor vehicles are completely separated from pedestrians, and roundabouts are used extensively. It hosted the headquarters of the former Craigavon Borough Council.
Translink is the brand name of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo), a public corporation in Northern Ireland which provides the public transport in the region. NI Railways, Ulsterbus and Metro are all part of Translink. It is led by CEO Chris Conway.
Craigavon Borough Council was a local council in counties Armagh, Down and Antrim, in Northern Ireland. It merged with Armagh City and District Council and Banbridge District Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to become Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon District Council.
Firmus Energy is an energy company based in Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The Lurgan Mail was founded in 1889 by Lewis Robert Richardson. The Lurgan Mail is a tabloid weekly newspaper based in Lurgan, County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It is published on Wednesday evenings, though each edition always bears the Thursday date and reports not only news in Lurgan, but also in nearby towns such as Waringstown and others in Craigavon Borough area. It is operated by Johnston Publishing (NI), a holding company of Johnston Press, who owns many of titles across Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The Portadown Times is a newspaper based in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK. It is published by Johnston Publishing (NI), part of Johnston Press who own thirty-seven papers across Ireland.
Johnston Press plc was a multimedia company founded in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1767. Its flagship titles included UK-national newspaper the i, The Scotsman, the Yorkshire Post, the Falkirk Herald, and Belfast's The News Letter. The company was operating around 200 newspapers and associated websites around the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man when it went into administration and was the purchased by JPIMedia in 2018. The Falkirk Herald was the company's first acquisition in 1846. Johnston Press's assets were transferred to JPIMedia in 2018, who continued to publish its titles.
The Ulster Towns Cup is a rugby union competition organized by the Ulster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union.
Derry Journal Newspapers is owned by JPIMedia. Derry Journal Newspapers owns 4 local newspapers in Northern Ireland. The 4 titles are the Derry Journal, the Sunday Journal, City News and Foyle News. The company is based on the corner of Pennyburn Pass and Duncreggan Road, Derry.
Iconic Newspapers is an Irish newspaper company that publishes over 20 regional newspapers. Iconic Newspapers are owned by Mediaforce who are majority owned by Malcolm Denmark. Iconic Newspapers hold their newspaper assets in a subsidiary called Formpress Publishing.
JPIMedia is a multimedia company purchased by National World plc in January 2021. JPIMedia Publishing Ltd was founded in 2018, following the acquisition of Johnston Press assets by its creditors.